Deliberate amnesia

[unixronin]

You:  "Tell all my friends where I am right now."

Google Latitude:  "Done."

You:  "OK, now forget it."

Google Latitude:  "...Forget what?"

Google's Latitude now tells your friends where you are, but forgets where you've been, and doesn't keep logs.

The intention is to make sure Latitude doesn't become an honeypot for cops wanting to be able to easily find out where you have been or even say the names of everyone who attended, or was near, a political protest.

[...]

The government tells courts, almost always in secret proceedings, that it is entitled to location records without a warrant, even if the person involved isn't even a suspect in an investigation.  The government argues you have no privacy interest in the data since you already told it to your phone company.

What Loopt — and now Google — are asserting is this: when you tell your friends where you are, you are using a public conveyance to communicate privately.  And, just as it would if it wanted to record your phone call or read your e-mail, the government needs to get a wiretap order.  That's even tougher to get than a search warrant.

(Via bruce_schneier)

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

That's nice, but until the wireless carriers agree to this it's basically meaningless. They can and do keep track of your location, and have a history of turning this information over to the Feds for processing.

The phone companies don't just roll over for the government, they tell the government it needn't bother with a condom.

T-10 years until history begins...

I think I'm missing a reference.

The panopticon, part 1

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

We are living in pre-history; all of what we create online now is being recorded, but it's approximately the same fidelity as cave paintings. In a few years, when full video of everyone's life is recorded and cataloged for future parsing and retrieval, history will begin. People will wonder what happened in our times, but will have only scattered press clippings to go on -- rather than simply being able to rewind the collective datastream to that time and place. People who didn't record their lives will be viewed the same as people who didn't get biographies written about them now -- people we only know second-hand.

Continuously publishing your location is an important part of this future, though with advanced image recognition and continuous video you can grok location from context.

Re: The panopticon, part 1

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I think I'd sooner be a mysterious unknown.

Re: The panopticon, part 1

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's going to be an opt-out, although maybe we'll be dead before it gets that far.

Wow, I finally found a reason to look forward to death....


*scratches item off list*

Re: The panopticon, part 1

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

Sure, there's always an opt-out. Just don't own a cell phone, a GPS device, or a laptop computer, and you're unplugged. They can't track you if they don't know that you're there to be tracked. Of course, it might make your legal status something close to the equal of today's homeless people, but you've opt'ed out!

Re: The panopticon, part 1

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that, since living in either an Earth House in New Mexico or a cabin in the mountains has always been a semi-ambition.


No, not like that guy. Although I could see going as far as writing a manifesto that no one would probably ever take too seriously.

Re: The panopticon, part 1

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

There seriously are times when I've thought of going so far as to build an underground home, with only the minimum necessary ventilation and not connected to any utility grid. With six feet of earth packed around all sides and over the top of the house, it would need no heating or cooling - constant temp of 68F all year long. If it's built close to a stream that is deep enough to bathe in, all you need after that is to raise/grow your own food. Poof - you've totally disappeared. Particularly if someone else owns the land and is letting you stay there in exchange for the food.